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Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Valentine's Day Party ~ For Mommy's!

Today I would like to share with you the Valentine's Day Party I threw for all my stay-at-home moms. There is something to be said about a stay-at-home mom! There is no break from our job ~ even in the middle of the night sometimes we are working ;) This party was a great way for all of us to get together and talk about the love we have for our children, husbands and God.

About a month ago I was at a Mommy's group through my church and saw how comforting it was to be around other ladies who are in the same boat as me. We talked about our kids, our husbands and basically, our lives! Seeing the need for this to happen more often inspired me to throw a party. What gave me the idea to make it Valentine's Day theme came from my dear friend Sharon who used to annually host a Valentine's Day brunch for all her girlfriends. I thought this was genius because it took the emphasis off of couples and cupid and brought love into friendship. She's now back to work full-time, so she has taken a break from the party for a while.

There were 14 moms and about 27 kids/babies! I'm so glad it didn't rain because I have no idea where in my house I would put all those kids!

Let me just tell you, this will be an annual thing for me now because it was so much fun!

Let me start with the décor and food/drink...

I bought red carnations and put them in the blue ball/mason jars that I already had...simple, right!? I also scattered Hershey Kisses and Hugs around all the tables. The moms had fun keeping little hands off of these babies!

I love this simple décor too. I took twigs I bought at Hobby Lobby (yes, I made the 45 minute trip up to Temecula!) and stuck them in a metal watering can I had. Then I hot glued felt hearts on the twigs. Done!

As for the food, I served crackers and cheese, which I cut into heart shapes with a heart-shaped cookie cutter, Danishes from the Grove Pastry Shop, apples and dip, cream cheese covered in chipotle sauce and cherry Jell-O with Cool Whip on top.

For the drinks, I served coffee, water and strawberry milk. I bought these bottles for the strawberry milk from 3 Sweet Memories. They were perfect!

I wanted to give them something they could use as a Valentine's Day gift for their husbands just in case they hadn't had time to do or get them something already. This is what I came up with....

I started out with these 8x10 burlap canvases which are a perfect size in case someone wanted to frame it. Then I had everyone send me their favorite family picture, which I printed on my photo printer. I grabbed some clothes pins and glued them on to the canvas. I covered the big one with Washi tape. I had bought the red chevron burlap ribbon from Hobby Lobby figuring I would find something to do with it...and I did. I also wrapped black jute to give it some contrast and hot glued the initials of everyone's last name on top of that. I got the letters from Michael's.

The phrase, "I knew I loved you when" kept playing in my mind, so I took it as a sign and incorporated it into an activity for everyone to do. I printed these signs out and handed them to each mom to have them fill out. I thought it would be sweet if we all looked back at the moment when we knew we loved our husbands and put it where we will be reminded of it all the time! (married people know what I'm talking about!)

Finally, the gift bags were easy...I just bought brown gift bags, stuffed red tissue paper and tied on the tags...oh, yeah, I made the tags!

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The kids had a blast! Playing ball, looking for bugs and hanging out in the house, the 'play house!'

Some made Wonder Loom bracelets, and others made Valentine Day cards!

All-in-all it was a great morning. It was such as fun and festive way to spend time with friends and let the little ones play too!

Like I said in the beginning, I hope to make this an annual party, so I'm sure I'll be thinking of ideas again soon!